The
Trona Pinnacles are located about 35 miles west of the Wildrose
entrance to Death Valley on Route 178. The Trona Pinnacles are BLM
Recreation Lands and since it is not a park there is no entrance
fee, gate, or ranger station. They can reached by traveling on
a 7 mile dirt road found just on the outside of Trona. The road is
easily drivable with a car and speeds should be kept under 35 mph
because of the loose dirt and uneven ground.

If traveled during the off-season or
week day one probably will have the Trona Pinnacles all to
themselves.

The town of Trona is fairly small but it does include
fuel stops, a bar, individual owned hotels, and a small cafe that
includes on the menu really good milk shakes.

A good day trip would include Aguereberry
Point in Death Valley, the exploration of Aguereberry's mine, and the Trona
Pinnacles.

Access to the
Trona Pinnancles is from a BLM dirt road (RM143) that leaves SR 178, about 7.7
miles east of the intersection of SR 178 and the Trona-Red Mountain
Road.
Map

The Trona Pinnacles have been host to
many movies and television shows including the recent remake of the
Planet of the Apes.

Trona, CA Facts:

Population:
2,742

County: San Bernardino

Area Code: 760

Zip Code: 93562

Ridgecrest, CA

Ridgecrest, 25 miles away, has many
hotels and food places. It is home to a military base and
during October a hot air balloon festival is held.

Parks & Monuments
Distances (from Ridgecrest):

Death Valley
National Park: 61 miles east.

Red Rock Canyon
State Park: 31 miles west.

Saddleback Butte
State Park: 98 miles south.

Sequoia National
Park (via Whitney Portal): 80 miles north.

Amongst the rock formations lies a sign
about the Trona Pinnacles. It reads as follows:

National Natural Landmark and Area
of Critical Environmental Concern

Consisting of over 500 spires, some as
high as 140 feet, the Trona Pinnacles are the most outstanding
examples of tufa (porous rock formed as a deposit from springs of
streams) in North America. These exotic appearing rock formations
are relics of the glacial periods during which the valleys of this
area were filled with water and formed a great chain of
interconnected lakes. The area received water from the Owens River
and occasionally overflowed to the south, east, and north.

The Pinnacles themselves, which vary
size and shape from short and squat to tall and thin, are composed
primarily of calcium carbonate and rise dramatically contrasted
against the flat lake bottom, has been frequently, and
appropriately, described as a landscape from another world.

Administered by the the Bureau of Land
Management

"Trona" (movie)

A 63 minute film that appears
to showcase the backdrop of Trona in its cinematography. The trailer to
the film is impressive.